Recovery
by Janika
Summary: Due to events in the previous episode, Janika vanished, but the gang knows she's still out there somewhere. XANA also knows something the others don't and he'll do anything to get to it before them. 11th episode
1. Absence

**_Post-production note: even though season 2 was out by the time this was completed, I decided to ignore it b/c that would have everything I'd already written seem like it was trying to live up to something it couldn't quite reach._**

**11-1: Absence Makes the Heart Wonder **

**Last time Janika sacrificed herself to save her twin sister from being deleted on Lyoko, but in the process she disappeared. Odd tried to interfere, but to no avail and now he blames himself for her death. The others aren't taking it so well either (as you will see). Plus, X.A.N.A. isn't about to cut them any slack. He's really mad now! **

(((-1-)))

"Thanks again for letting me stay at Kadic, Mom. It really means a lot to me."

"I know, dear," Janika's mother sighed. "I wish I could see you, but I suppose your schoolwork is rather important. Just be sure and give your cousin her birthday present next week. I know she gives you a hard time, but she's still family."

"Don't worry, Mom. I'll be nice to Sissy, even if she does drive me up the wall," came the reply over the phone. "Take care of yourself."

"Bye, honey!" she called cheerfully before hanging up.

(V)

"Well, that is unfortunate," Principal Delmas said, rubbing his chin. "But your parents said you would be coming back?"

"Yes, Uncle Gene. They said I could go back to school as soon as this whole thing here at home is sorted out. I still can't believe I'm going to be an older sister!" Janika sounded excited over the phone. "Just in case I don't make it back by next week, tell Sissy happy birthday for me, will you?"

"Of course! She's very lucky to have a cousin like you who cares."

"I try. Bye."

(V)

Jeremy hung up and disabled the voice modifier on the supercomputer that made him sound like the girl who was still lost somewhere in Lyoko. Aelita looked over at him, rubbing her bloodshot eyes.

Three days. Three full days and still no progress. His nerves were wearing thin and whenever he talked to the pink-haired girl, he snapped sourly.

They had reconfigured the scanning codes seven times and searched Lyoko from corner to corner, even in the virtual nothingness of the Digital Sea. No Janika. She had just vanished.

"When are we going to stop?" Aelita whispered.

"Never!" the boy retorted sharply. He immediately regretted his words as she flinched. Jeremy rested his head heavily on his hands and said in a softer tone, "It's my fault any of this happened. I should have realized Jira wasn't her, and I should have refused when Janika told me to send her to Lyoko, even if she did want to save her sister."

"It's not your fault, Jeremy. Janika made the choice. She never would have forgiven herself if she'd let her sister die. We both know that."

"Yeah…but I still feel like I could have—_should have_ done something to help."

"It's not your fault," she repeated, hugging him from behind. "We'll keep looking."

He nodded numbly. They hadn't spoken to the others in three days either. He wondered how they were handling Janika's absence.

(V)

Ulrich tried to concentrate on his Chemistry homework, but it was worse than ever. The words ran together and always seemed to spell out the strangest things: "Ammonia is highly polarized, due to midnight burgers that have happy toes" or "Nitroglycerin is a dense, oily liquid that brings people out of their glassy rivers with green backs."

It was getting rather unnerving.

The group photo on his desk had been tormenting him for days. They looked so happy, all of them together, acting as if no evil super-virus was breathing down their necks. Janika's green eyes laughed at him, her smile ironic, and the crack that spiderwebbed across the small glass frame etched silver lines across her face.

Odd had thrown it against the wall the day after she disappeared. Ulrich had seen him once or twice since from a distance, but he didn't come back to the room and he didn't answer his cell.

The dark-haired boy wished he could do the same: throw a tantrum and run away. Just break something! Anything!

But Ulrich couldn't do that now. He was the calm, collected, rational member of the group. The one that knew what had to be done and did it, no matter the consequences. Despite his feelings, he had a responsibility to the others and he had to stick to his role.

But he still wished with all his might that he could just scream loud and long.

(V)

Odd stared at his shoes. The sewer tunnels below the surface of the city were damp, dirty and freezing, but he hardly noticed. The blonde boy sat, legs outstretched, near the exit by the factory. He raised his eyes to stare through the bars at the bottom side of the bridge. He remembered that time when she and he had climbed to the other side by that path…

He was supposed to be the joker of the group. Why couldn't he think of anything cheerful? Stupid question.

The day was darkening. Night had begun. How long had he been there? He felt so weak. Odd didn't care, though. He wanted to sleep and dream of her. But his dreams were always of other things. Why couldn't he dream of what he wanted most?

Did he love her? He couldn't say. Not out loud. Not even in his head. What _was_ love anyway? Was it the ache that made him want to die right now? Or the soaring feeling he got whenever she had smiled at him? _Had_ smiled…

(V)

_Their noses were inches apart, Telekinesis and fire radiating from their hands against each other's power. The Pawn stared at Yumi, and the Japanese girl at Mekri. Neither surrendered their thoughts, faces blank but for gritted teeth. Their strength dwindled slowly until it vanished. Yumi twitched, giving her opponent the chance she was waiting for._

_Without saying a word, Mekri attempted to throw Yumi, but fortunately the girl's twitch had been a ruse. Yumi sidestepped and got beneath the Pawn's guard, throwing her instead out the broken window of the coffee shop and into on-coming traffic!_

_The scream of screeching tires filled her ears as a driver tried desperately to avoid Mekri, but it was too late…for the driver. The rubber tires popped as they melted under her fierce red gaze and a cruel smile twisted her features as she made the engine combust._

_It pained her to throw her power so far, but Yumi managed to protect the woman in the front seat and the little boy strapped in beside her. She pushed them out the side of the ruined vehicle as flames and shrapnel bounced against her barrier. They were safe._

_But Mekri was on her feet, no fatigue showing although Yumi herself was almost completely exhausted. She wasn't sure if she could repel another fiery blow. There was no mercy in the Pawn's eyes as she sent a wall of fire at her victim and—_

Yumi sat straight up in bed, trembling uncontrollably and her eyes wide with fear. Three days since the final Pawn and dreams continued to haunt her, not only of Mekri but all of them.

The Pawns had been the worst creations X.A.N.A. had ever come up with. He had forced herself and her teammates to battle friends who had nothing to do with this war.

And now they had lost a fellow Warrior. Janika vanished without a trace, sacrificing herself for her sister's life…and now she was gone.

Her thoughts scampered about like frightened rabbits in her groggy, semi-asleep state. The black-haired girl hugged her silly-eyed stuffed cat tightly, refusing to let go in case X.A.N.A. tried to possess it.

(V)

X.A.N.A. knew it was time. He had power, but much of it was leeching away to an unknown source someplace on Earth. He could not retrieve it for some reason and the loss was weakening him little by little. There had to be some way to get it back. The Warriors could do it, but the question was would they?

True, they had no love for him and he had none for them, but there was one card to play; an Ace, if he was not mistaken.

They had lost something very precious to them, and he had decided it would be in his best interest to preserve it. Now was a good time dangle the "carrot" in front of the "donkey". They would listen if they knew he could give them what they wanted, and the cheetah-Warrior would be his bargaining chip…

**There, you see? I know it was short, but cut me some slack! School just started and I did good just to write this little piece. I'm actually supposed to be getting my bags packed right now, but you guys were just so important that I am giving that up to do this.  
Now, where was I? Oh yeah! If someone asked you what you'd rather give up (your TV, your computer, or your only mode of transportation) what would you say? (I'd totally give up my TV b/c you can watch TV online w/ a computer, but ever since I got my bike…(sigh!) I'm sorry, there's just no room for boys in my life anymore…no one but my sweet bicycle: Clyde)**


	2. Unearthed

**11-2: Unearthed **

**Now obviously this episode is going to take a little more thought than usual, so don't be surprised if it takes me more than 2 months to get it out there. I'm workin' here! But once again, I move fast b/c I make these things about as long as a regular episode. Gotta cram it all into about 23 minutes show-time. **

(((-2-)))

Nothing had ever been simple for them. Throughout the terrors visited upon them by X.A.N.A., Aelita had done everything she could to prevent him from getting more powerful and ruining their lives. But ultimately they had failed. No, _she_ had failed.

It was her fault they had turned Lyoko on and left it active. They always tried to tell her otherwise, but she knew better. If not for her, there would be no danger.

Trying not to appear depressed, Aelita activated a new scan she'd reconfigured for the supercomputer. It was the fourth one she'd done by herself. She had her head down and was listening to the constant hum of the machinery as it automatically scanned the Sectors.

The alerting beep made her jerk upright so fast that she knocked her head against the back of her chair. Rubbing the sore spot, she brought up the correct window on the monitor and stared dumbly at it for half a minute before running over to Jeremy where he had sacked out on the makeshift hammock in the corner.

"Jeremy, I found something!" she kept repeating so fast that it sounded like gibberish.

He slipped his glasses on as she dragged him over and when he saw the screen, all traces of fatigue washed from his features. "It's her! It's _got_ to be her! Aelita, I can't do anything from here. I'll send a text message to the others, but I don't know if they'll answer. You may have to go alone. We don't know how long she'll be there before she vanishes or whatever."

Excited now, the pink-haired girl raced downstairs to the scanners and stepped inside the one that opened for her. Within thirty seconds she landed on a barren stretch of ice in the Polar Region, luckily without a welcoming committee.

(V)

The darkness scared Yumi, hiding so many deadly secrets and dangers. Why couldn't things be the way they used to be, back when the worst thing she had to worry about was whether or not Hiroki would embarrass her in front of Ulrich? Nothing was ever simple or safe anymore and she missed it.

She heard her phone vibrate from its spot on her table and couldn't seem to make sense of the noise. Yumi hid her face in the striped cat's plushy stomach to escape.

_Leave me alone! I don't want to lose my kitty! X.A.N.A. will take everything away from me, I know it…_she thought to herself before lapsing into a troubled sleep full of friends with twisted expressions and glowing eyes.

(V)

A small lamp on the desk was the only thing that kept the encroaching shadows back, and Ulrich wasn't quite sure he wanted to turn it off. For some reason that blackness had become an enemy, disguising whatever may or may not lurk there.

Ulrich slammed his book shut as his phone went off. What was the point of Chemistry anyway? He saw Jeremy's text message and gaped. Fingers fumbled as he tried to call his friend.

"Yes, Ulrich. We found her, or at least something I really hope is her," the blonde informed his friend before he even had the chance to ask the question. "The signal's a bit distorted, so it's hard to find out anything definite right now."

"Y-you're not pulling m-m-my leg?" Ulrich stammered.

"Do I sound like Odd?" came Jeremy's rhetoric reply.

"I'm coming, Jer!"

(V)

Following Jeremy's directions, the girl with her strawberry-colored hair traveled the icy waste until she came to a dead end. Waterfalls churned the water between her and the walls so that it was almost impossible to see anything besides the froth, but it was clear that there were no caves hidden behind the falling streams of water. **(A/N: This is the spot where Odd and Ulrich were practicing in "Amnesia") **

"Jeremy, where is she?" Aelita wondered, staring at the impasse before her.

"You're standing right on top of her. It looks to me as if she's in frozen in suspended animation…literally! Do what you can to get her out of there. Ulrich will be here soon."

The A.I. dropped down and rubbed the ice with her hand until the thin layer of white crust on top cleared, allowing her to look through it. There was a dark figure beneath, its features indistinct and cloudy. She couldn't tell who it was.

Despite her misgivings, Aelita closed her eyes, placed her hands together and accessed Synthization with her voice. The area of ice in front of her began to melt until there was nothing but water left at the very tip of the finger of land. Stepping as close as she could without falling, the girl reached in and felt for the shadowy figure. Her fingers closed on something long and soft, despite being wet and somewhat stiff from the cold.

Anxious now, she pulled, straining at the weight. When her hands broke the surface, she knew she had the right person: she was holding onto Janika's braid.

No sooner had she hauled her friend out of the water than Jeremy's voice came over frantically. "Get away from that thing! As soon as you brought it out, X.A.N.A.'s signal appeared on its profile!"

The girl glanced down at the creature that looked like Janika and had to admit something was different about her. But she ignored Jeremy's warning and began to drag her to the closest Tower. He argued with his friend, but she continued to disregard him stubbornly. She pulled her burden through the side and breathed a sigh of relief when the Tower's defense didn't force her out.

"There, you see? She _**is**_ Janika!"

Jeremy started a scan now that she was in a place where he could access her. After a few moments he had to agree. "This isn't a trick. It really is her. I _told_ you she was alive!"

(V)

The reflection of the city lights wavered before Odd's eyes. No one ever turned them off. Why not? Were people really so afraid of the dark? He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the stars without most of them blocked out by those glaring lights.

The blonde boy heard his phone ring. It was probably Ulrich again. He didn't care. No wait, that ring was different. It was a text message from…Jeremy?

Dragged down by the continuous lethargy he had undergone over the past few days, Odd laboriously took it out of his pocket and stared at the little screen. At first he couldn't read it, but then: J…A…N—

He surged to his feet and nearly fell over into the swampy sewer water as all the blood rushed to his brain. After a few minutes gathering his strength, he managed to climb the ladder slowly and cross the bridge. The blonde was too weak to take the rope and get to the elevator without losing his grip and eating cement, so he stumbled down the stairs.

The lift came at his request and Odd felt the familiar sensation of slight thrill and mischievousness that he always got when he entered the factory. He pressed his palm against the familiar button before it went too far and entered the code for the lab floor.

Weird. He could hardly remember it.

Jeremy turned as the doors opened to reveal a haggard Odd leaning heavily against the side of the elevator. Concerned, the computer whiz jogged over and helped support his friend across the room.

"Whoa, you really let yourself go to the dogs," he commented sympathetically. "Ulrich told me you were taking this whole thing hard, but I would have gone looking for you if I'd known you had been like this."

"It wouldn't have been that hard to find me," Odd croaked back. "I was in the sewer exit across the bridge."

Jeremy winced. "I guess I haven't really been wandering around all that much lately. Me and Aelita were taking shifts scanning Lyoko for Janika. She's in a Tower right now, but she's not responding to anything."

"Send me there."

It was a command, not a plea. Jeremy started to object but the other boy seized his shoulders with a strength that seemed incredible, especially after his three-day fast. Odd's eyes glinted with a fierceness that scared his teammate.

"I thought she was _dead_, Jeremy. You're not going to keep me from her. Do you understand?"

**I always wondered why towns and cities were so full of light. It always made me think city-folks were babies b/c they couldn't stand a little darkness. Anyway, I guess you'll find out next time if that really is Janika or not. Mwahahaha! Now, how would you respond to a stranger who grabs your lunch and walks off eating it? (I'd probably laugh and call after them "That's a good idea if you want AIDS!" Not that I do, but I'd love to see their face when they hear that)**


	3. Missing Link

**11-3: Missing Link **

**First of all, I am really growing tired of these updates. I think I've just lost my stamina. This has GOT to be the very last story and then I'll retire. **

(((-3-)))

Janika lay unmoving inside the Tower. According to Aelita it was the best place for her to recover, as it was for herself. But even though it had only been a little while, she was pacing back and forth apprehensively.

The A.I. couldn't tell if Janika would wake up and without the correct codes to devirtualize her, they were helpless to assist. But at long last, Aelita saw her friend's tail twitch and excitedly told Jeremy. He sounded nervous when he answered.

"That's terrific! Um, Odd's coming to Lyoko to see her. He's…a little concerned. I'm virtualizing him near the Tower now."

Less than a minute later the blonde punk charged through the wall just as Janika sat up with Aelita's help. She smiled unsteadily when she saw him and gave a helpless shrug.

"Did you miss me?"

Odd embraced her without answering, or perhaps the hug _was_ his answer. Either way, he didn't really want to let go.

"How long have I been out of the mix?"

"Three full days. Almost four," Aelita said for the panther-Warrior who was overwhelmed with speechless joy. Odd wouldn't release his girlfriend and she was beginning to feel a bit breathless from all the squeezing.

When she finally managed to get loose, Janika posed the question to Jeremy. "Why haven't you devirtualized me? Everything's fine, isn't it?"

The supercomputer's operator paused uncertainly. "Well…you see, the deal is that your DNA code was scrambled when you gave yourself up for Jira."

"Jira!" she gasped as her memory returned. "Is she all right?"

"Perfect. Practically no memory of Lyoko. Don't worry about her. There's plenty of reasons to be concerned about yourself, though. I still have no idea how you managed to survive a system replacement that should have caused you to disintegrate. Plus, you aren't exactly showing up as you on the computer."

"Really? I wonder why not—ack!" she yelped, leaping away from the others.

Jeremy jumped at his console, afraid something had gone wrong. "What is it? What's going on? Aelita, is she okay?"

Janika's friends in the Tower stared at her with confusion as she ran her hands along her fur with disbelief. "What happened to me?" she gasped.

Aelita scratched the back of her head and screwed her mouth into an inquisitive expression. "I was wondering about that, but I couldn't very well ask you while you were asleep and I was more concerned with getting you back here. You do look very odd, I admit."

Janika transferred her glare to the blonde boy. "Oh yeah, it's odd all right. Odd's _fault_, I should say. Just how exactly did you manage to turn me _purple?_"

The cheetah-warrior still had her spots, but instead of orange fur, everything was in beautiful shades of plum except for the white cross-halter top, skirt and boots. Odd tried to keep a straight face for about three seconds before he burst out into helpless laughter. Once Aelita saw that, she couldn't help herself either and had to lean against him to keep from falling off the platform.

Luckily Jeremy was in the dark and had to imagine what she looked like. "Jeremy," the pink-haired girl managed to say through her laughter, "I'm sending you a visual."

"Really? Well that's great! Ulrich and Yumi just got in the elevator and are coming down, so we can all see what Janika looks like."

There went her last shred of dignity.

(V)

The elevator opened seconds later as Ulrich half-supported a tired Yumi into the lab.

"Sorry it took me a while, but I had to get Yumi out of bed. She wouldn't answer her phone, then nearly socked me when I climbed up and knocked on her window. She mistook me for a burglar."

Yumi gave him a crooked smile that froze when they saw Janika's figure on the screen. The three of them couldn't hold it in and for the next few minutes, the purple cheetah on Lyoko couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Finally she yelled, "Can _somebody_ tell me why I changed colors or do I have to beat you guys up?"

Jeremy sobered and scanned her several more times with different programs to make sure, but his results were all the same.

"Janika, if I'm not mistaken, when Odd stepped into the Tower to stop you and Jira, he actually saved your life. Your profile is mostly blank except for the scrambled remainder of some of Odd's DNA imprinted onto you right before the transfer. It kept you alive, but he's not the only reason you're around."

He glanced behind him at his other two friends and wondered what they would think of the _other _news.

(V)

Aelita knew he was going to break the _other_ news to them and stepped back to observe how Janika would take it.

"X.A.N.A. latched onto you right before also and kept you from being sucked into the Digital Sea. If it wasn't for Odd there wouldn't have been anything to grab but there's no doubt about it: X.A.N.A. sacrificed some of his own memory banks to the Void in order to keep you from being deleted."

She leaned heavily against her boyfriend, utterly mystified.

"That doesn't make any sense," Ulrich protested beside Jeremy. "X.A.N.A.'s been trying to kill us for months, but when he gets a chance to see one of our team out of the battle for good, he chokes and lets her _live?_ Call it what you will, but I never considered him to be much of the compassionate sort and I seriously doubt he's going soft."

"He might be trying to use her as a weapon. When Aelita discovered her on ice, she might have disrupted his plans."

Odd was helping Janika get to her feet again (she'd fallen down weakly after leaping about from discovering her new color) and she gave her pink-haired friend a remorseful smile. "Sorry if you had to battle through a legion of robots to free me."

"I didn't…" she replied with surprise. "Jeremy, X.A.N.A. didn't make a mistake when we located her. He _wanted_ us to find her."

"Okay, I think I may need a break or something. This is just getting too weird, and I trust this sudden benevolence less than you guys." Even as he spoke, a new window appeared on the screen. "Um…I'm going to devirtualize you both, all right?"

"Why? What's happening up there?" Odd asked, holding tightly to Janika's shoulders. "What about her?"

"She'll be fine. You probably need to rest anyway, Janika. I'm bringing you guys back to Earth in three, two, _one_."

(V)

Aelita and Odd joined the other members of the gang upstairs just as the computer whiz finished uploading something. He waved them over, his face nearly gray despite the green glow from Lyoko's orb.

"We just received a message from our enemy. X.A.N.A. contacted me using a safe method, so I know he's not trying to infect the supercomputer. Still, it's in code and I'm trying to figure out what he wants."

"That's some weird gobbledygook," Yumi noted. The symbols looked like something an alien race would have dreamed up.

As she caught sight of the screen everyone was staring at, Aelita gasped, "I know that code!"

Jeremy turned to her in astonishment. "What? How?"

"If you ever get caught by X.A.N.A. and have your memories poked through, you might be able to understand," she told him crossly. "I don't trust it."

"Could you at least translate it for us?"

Her glare and turned back answered his question.

"Never mind, then. I'll do it myself." A few minutes later he finished deciphering most of it with the supercomputer's help and the others looked on with interest.

"A pretty short message for all those symbols, isn't it?" Odd noted.

Jeremy ignored him and read the note aloud to the others. "It says, 'You have found the Warrior and I allowed you to take her so that you know for certain that she is indeed your missing partner. I can delete her at a moment's notice if my command is not obeyed: bring me the…' I can't translate this last row of symbols."

"The fire-maiden," Aelita spoke up behind them. "He wants Mekri."

"But Mekri was destroyed when the Tower was deactivated!" Yumi protested. "I saw her leave Sissy's body, and we all know there's no way she could have survived on Earth without it."

"Yumi, you're forgetting I didn't deactivate that Tower. It's possible Mekri could have remained in her host's body, hidden somewhere maybe."

"Nope," Ulrich shook his head. "Sissy is Sissy all right. She cornered me yesterday…and the day before. No weird dresses or phrases or referring to her 'Master.' She's not Mekri, whatever you think. No worries on that account, believe me."

Jeremy spoke up again, "Then how do you explain X.A.N.A. holding Janika hostage until he gets someone who doesn't even exist anymore? He's not stupid. What other 'fire-maiden' could there possibly be that we could hand over to him?"

Before he had even completed the sentence, Jeremy wanted to swallow his words, but it was impossible. Aelita's hair wasn't exactly fiery, but just now her temper was.

"But that doesn't matter anyway because we're _not_ going to be giving up anyone to X.A.N.A.," he amended.

She didn't look very relieved or forgiving, and talked to the others rather than including him in the conversation. "We can't do anything else here tonight. Janika will be fine until morning and then we can begin working on a way to free her from X.A.N.A.'s control. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I haven't slept in a proper bed in days and I need some real sleep, not to mention something besides Chinese food in my stomach."

They all agreed and Jeremy let Janika know what the plan was before leaving with his friends. The lavender cheetah-girl sat down inside the Tower and idly twiddled her thumbs.

"Hmm. Now what?"

Fox: "**If you would be so kind as to set me free, Sire…"  
**King: **"Set you free? What do you take me for? A fool?" (crickets begin to chirp) "I said, what do you take me for?"  
**Fox: **"A wise and noble king, of course!"**

**That's one of my favorite lines from my sister's high school play. The theater department did "My Friend, the Fox" and she was the lead role. So tell me, if you were a fox talking to a king and wanted him to help you get out of a trap, what would you say? (I'd try to act sexy and use my feminine wiles to flabbergast him)**


	4. Something Missing

**11-4: Something Missing **

**It took me a while to get this up b/c I've been focusing completely on a fantasy story for my Creative Writing class and it's finally DONE! Hopefully y'all won't roast me alive for making you wait. Just be prepared to wait for the next chappie too. **

(((-4-)))

The gang left the factory, somewhat worse for wear. Jeremy promised he would return to the past to fix the last few days once they figured out how to break X.A.N.A.'s hold on Janika, a project which he was already working on in his head. The one thing that puzzled all of them equally, though, was the 'fire-maiden' and whatever the computer virus wanted with her.

There was no possible way Aelita could be the girl X.A.N.A. wanted! Well, notwithstanding the fact that he had been after her since they had discovered Lyoko, there had to be another explanation for the strange message. Right?

Yumi looked like her spirits had risen and walked arm in arm with Ulrich, talking in animated whispers. Glancing over at Odd, the computer whiz noted the immense change that had come over his friend. There was a liveliness in his step that hadn't been there before and the muscles in his face were relaxed, as if he was sure everything would be fine.

If only Jeremy was so confident. Aelita still refused to look at him, even when he asked her how she was. Or maybe that was just a really dumb question. Either way, she wasn't speaking to him.

He pushed away the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something. A good night's rest would put things in perspective the next day.

(V)

In a dorm at Kadic, a young girl twisted beneath her sheets as if to escape something. Memories of a twisted world with strange dimensions and a destructive power she wielded came to her in a jumble of confused colors and emotions.

Finally Sissy woke up sweating. Rivulets ran down her brow and soaked her pillow, but the nightmare had only half-wakened her. The real problem was that she was so hot! Why Jim set the temperature to boiling was beyond her, but she felt as if she was sleeping in a furnace.

The window slid up and she hung outside as wintry breezes caressed her face. They hardly helped. Sissy angrily waved her hands frantically to fan herself, but nothing seemed to work. She knew it was the Flame.

It had awakened with her only a few days earlier, and never seemed to leave. If she ignored it, the Flame came to her; but if she paid attention to it, the Flame hid. She couldn't control it unless she concentrated really really _really _hard.

This strange ability had frightened her, and still did. She felt so alone with a secret like this, but every time she'd approached Ulrich in the past few days…it was as if he saw something about her that alarmed him. At first she thought he knew about the Flame, but the more she watched him, the more she realized he was afraid of what she _might be_, which confused her to no end because Sissy was herself and no one else.

Or was she?

The Flame consumed her hands in a smokeless fire. It traveled up her arms and all over her clothes without burning. Each strand of her hair was adorned with a shadow of red fire. Her eyes changed, _shifting_ so that she could see heat. There, there, and there through the walls were sleeping figures in their beds, and even those below her through the floor, or above through the ceiling.

By chance she glanced at the window, its shade drawn, but four small shapes glowing with orange and red heat waves hurried across the school grounds toward the dorms. She knew instantly who they were, though she hadn't seen Odd, Aelita or Jeremy in quite some time. In fact, not since the day before the Flame came to her…

Her fiery cloak dwindled and Sissy's second sight failed. She was left momentarily weak from the drain the Flame placed on her, but she knew now. There was no doubt in her mind who could tell her about her new ability.

But would they be able to help her? Perhaps waiting for morning would be best.

(V)

The Tower had nothing in it remotely entertaining. No company or window to look out at the world. What exactly had Aelita done during all that time she was stuck here by herself? How had she kept sane? Hours passed slowly and she felt every lingering second tick arduously past. There was nothing to do! At least it would be morning soon.

And then she felt it, like the beat of a pulse.

Janika could feel him: X.A.N.A. inside her. He couldn't control her for some reason, but she felt him there all the same. It was a message sent to all his minions. More like instinctive knowledge than actual words, but she understood it perfectly.

An alert: _A Tower has been stimulated—3XF5. There will be delay enough to possibly destroy the Warriors. Prepare in the Forest Quadrant._

She ran to the edge of the platform, leaping off into the darkness and floating through a whirlwind of digital information to land neatly inside a new Tower. The cheetah-girl exited smoothly and the evening light of the Forest Region cast shadows that concealed much among the huge trees. She knew the active Tower was on the far side.

Krabs, Hornets and even a couple Megatanks traveled through the area. Janika tensed as one of the spiderlike machines approached her, dropping one hand to her waist to feel for her ninja stars…only they weren't there. X.A.N.A. had stolen them!

A familiar spell of anger flared, but as she reached for her Special Ability, the cheetah-girl felt like she struck a brick wall with her bare head going 30 miles an hour. Her Bloodlust was just on the other side, but no matter how angry she was, it wouldn't come to her.

So _that's _why he wasn't concerned. She was defenseless!

If the Krab could have made any facial expressions, it probably would have smirked. As it was, the robot merely turned its back on her as if she was absolutely no threat. Well, she _did_ have X.A.N.A.'s signature printed all over her digital profile even though she was a purple humanoid. Maybe they thought she was one of them, so she started following.

Strangely enough, she felt more like a ghost than anything. The Hornets and Roachsters and everything else didn't molest her or even acknowledge her presence after the first Krab. It made her feel invincible, but of course without her weapons it was a little hard to attack and defeat such an army, so she ignored them as well.

The activated Tower came into sight and Janika stared. Wouldn't Jeremy have been alerted by it on his computer? Maybe he was tired from so many sleepless nights or maybe not in his room where he could hear the warning. What sort of 'delay' had her enemy referred to in the message to his minions?

But as she stood outside the Tower, X.A.N.A.'s plan suddenly became obvious. Hornets were flying into the red-rimmed spire. Only a few, of course, but the mode of attack was plain enough: he was materializing them.

She impulsively strode up, acting like she had business there, and stepped confidently into the Tower after five or so Hornets had flown in. She tried to calm her wildly beating heart and followed the foremost monster.

It hovered in the center of the platform where it glowed for a moment before vanishing in a sudden flare of light. Janika knew this could possibly kill her, but she was too concerned with the welfare of her friends who lacked an edge now that their Special Abilities had been taken away in the real world.

She had to do something!

Janika walked dutifully to the center of the Tower where she began to float. It was almost identical to when she saved her sister's life, except that Jira wasn't there to inspire her to continue. There was only the thought of her friends helpless…

(V)

X.A.N.A. felt the circuits flare wildly in response to an invader in the activated Tower. What was happening there? He connected to the Tower just in time to be thrown out! Something had changed his programming; something he had not foreseen.

He scanned the area for the trapped Warrior and found nothing. Not even a glimmer. Could she have discovered a way to deactivate the Tower…? No. It was still dynamic, but something in its program had changed. He just had to figure it out, and also what happened to that annoying little Warrior.

(V)

Jeremy checked his alarm and mashed a palm down on the snooze button. Why had he decided to set it for 5:30 anyway? He hadn't had a decent night's sleep in what seemed like years, and it woke him up from a _very_ nice dream where Aelita hadn't been mad at him. Quite the opposite and…_hey!_ Mind your own dreams!

He might as well rise and get started on that decoding project. There were a few things he could start with. Absently reaching for his glasses, he flipped on the computer with his other hand and stifled a yawn, but suddenly grew attentive when the loading screen popped up and froze.

"Oh no…" he gaped at it. "It can't be! The…the _Blue Screen of Death!_"

The solid blue screen had two lines of indecipherable code stretching across the top and directions that, when followed, never worked.

Finally the memory returned to him: taking several crucial parts and disks of information from this computer to help at the factory. He'd even left his _laptop_ there plugged carelessly into the main monitor!

Could X.A.N.A. have realized this mistake and taken advantage of it? Probably not, otherwise why on earth would he send them a letter _asking_ for the 'fire-maiden'?

(V)

Janika opened her eyes. They didn't exactly feel like her eyes, but more like the scanners of some kind of robot—oh _dang it!_

**Lately I decided to learn sign language and it's been really fun. But if you knew it and wanted to make fun of some bully right in front of his face, what would you say out loud and what would you be signing at the same time? (I'd get a little glassy-eyed and say: "You really have this amazing aura about you" while signing: "Did you roll around in road kill this morning?")**


	5. New Body

**11-5: New Body **

**Delays, delays, always delays, and yet chapter five has arrived! Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review. Also, the whole outline is not set in stone yet, so feel free to offer any ideas that might contribute. You may get a chappie dedicated to you. **

(((-5-)))

Janika tried to speak but only made a queer buzzing sound.

She hadn't materialized as herself, which might be considered a good thing since there were about six Hornets flying abstractedly around the elevator's bolted door. The…er…Hornet-girl knew she couldn't defeat all of them there without getting herself killed as well. She would have to let them get away and destroy them one by one.

The lift finally arrived and four of X.A.N.A.'s monsters managed to hover inside without crashing into each other. The rest would have to wait. Janika decided to wait for her other "comrades" to go first and observe them before acting like one. It was easy to hover with five pairs of wings, but Janika wondered what she would do if she wanted to land. She didn't have legs, after all.

The elevator returned after a minute or so and they crowded in. The two Hornets flew out of the factory, heading in different directions. Janika followed one and waited until she was a reasonable distance from the other before firing unexpectedly on her "comrade" who was so shocked that it didn't even dodge as she dove down from above, using a sort of sixth sense to attack. She couldn't fire quickly, though.

Exploding pieces of shrapnel rained down on the water surrounding the factory and Janika made a few victory loops in the air, finding that wings were actually quite pleasant commodities. But when she finally remembered the other five Hornets, the transformed girl realized she had no idea which way they had all flown.

Oh well. She'd better start somewhere.

(V)

Sissy felt the Flame sleeping and stepped carefully out into the hall. It was luckily Sunday, so there was no school to distract him. He would have no choice but to listen and explain, if he was truly one of the conspirators.

She climbed up the stairwell to the boys' floor and peeked out into it. A few of her male classmates meandered around in a semi-asleep state, mostly aiming for the showers. Ulrich and Odd were there too, looking little more than a ghost of his former self, but for some reason also happy.

Their conversation was short and punctuated by frequent growls from the short kid's stomach. Odd looked a bit sheepish and bid his friend farewell, announcing that he had a date with about a dozen slices of buttered toast and twenty poached eggs, plus a list of other foods that practically grossed the principal's daughter out.

He came toward the door while Ulrich followed the other boys into the showers. Sissy looked for a place to conceal herself but there was nothing to hide behind! Boldly she stood her ground.

The door opened and Odd began down the stairs, too intent on his breakfast to notice her. Sissy's hand staked out and seized him by the back of his shirt, yanking him back. "Don't even _think_ about sneaking off!" she warned.

"Sissy, what do you want? I'm starving to death here!"

"You're _always _starving, Pipsqueak."

"But this time I'm telling the truth! All I've had to eat for the last four days was a package of salty chips and cookies Ulrich gave me last night."

"Boo-hoo. I don't really care about that. I have a very personal matter that's your fault."

"Hey! Don't blame me for what you see in the mirror."

The girl in pink felt her eye twitch and she tried to ignore the jab. "I'm serious, Odd. Something's been happening to me lately that could only be something a person like you would have the ability to understand…" She dropped her voice so low that he could barely hear. "I have super-powers."

For once Odd stared at her gravely and she released her grip on his shirt. "Sissy…now I do understand. It makes so much sense…it never crossed my mind before, but now I see it! Nobody could have a face like yours unless it was some kind of super-defense. You could stop a rhino in its tracks just by glaring at it!"

Her fist flew toward his face but he dodged and ran downstairs laughing his head off. Sissy screamed several things at him that are too impolite to repeat. They did involve thorny vines, some twisted pieces of iron, and a vat of crude oil doing something very unlikely to him, though.

She hoped he wouldn't tell the whole school what she'd just said. Why did she even bother to hope? It was guaranteed to be on the front page tomorrow. But this meant he wasn't the one. Who else could possibly know anything about crazy stuff like this? Super powers and insanity weren't really her forte.

Wait, she had it! There _was_ one other person who would know all about this kind of thing!

(V)

Yumi looked through her books, finally able to concentrate without falling into deep wells of memories and thoughts that had a tendency to swallow her time over the past few days. She was all too sure that Jeremy and Aelita would find some way to rescue their friend from Lyoko.

Physics wasn't her favorite subject, but it was impossible to skip. She was just getting into the terminology when a shadow fell across her paper from the window. Only her instincts saved her life as Yumi twisted into a forward roll that brought her behind the meager cover of her bed.

A narrow beam of red light came through the glass, shattering it and shredding the Japanese girl's homework into a mess of blackened papers. She ducked a second shot as the Hornet came closer, hovering outside her window with grim purpose. Luckily it was too big to fit into the opening.

"Yumi, what's all that racket? I heard something break," her mother's footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs.

"Mom, stay away! There's a—" she stopped, not sure what to say. Nothing she could think of would dissuade her from entering.

It was too late. The door squeaked as it swung open and Yumi screamed a warning at the same time that a laser flew toward the woman! It struck Yumi's mother, flinging her back into the hallway with a cry that wrenched her daughter's heart.

"Mom!" Heedless of the danger, she abandoned her cover and ran to the door.

_Tseeew! _Another shot flew past her face as she dragged her mother to safety. The injured Japanese woman sputtered and spasmed uncontrollably, and there was a wound in her shoulder near the carotid artery in her neck, blood beginning to soak her shirt. Hiroki pounded up the stairs and saw his mother on the floor.

"Mama!" he shrieked, running forward.

"Stay back!" Yumi screamed at her brother as he passed in front of the open doorway of her room. She heard the Hornet's laser fire and watched Hiroki dashing with agonizing slowness.

The laser struck the ceiling above the boy, a wild shot. There was angry buzzing and more sporadic shots, but they didn't enter her room. Was someone outside defending her?

"Stay here with Mom," she told her brother. "Keep pressure on her shoulder _here_. Do you understand?"

Hiroki looked more serious than she'd ever seen him before. "Yes."

Waiting long enough to make sure he could do it, the black-haired teenager rushed back through her door to see two Hornets battling outside. She couldn't tell any difference between them, so wasn't sure which one had shot her mother. But what really puzzled her was why X.A.N.A.'s creatures were fighting each other.

One of them took shelter beneath the branches of an oak tree and fired at the other in short, furtive bursts, but the second continued a periodic barrage that kept the first under cover. Yumi wasn't sure what was going on, but she had to do something.

"Hey you!" she yelled, standing openly in front of the broken window, waving her arms. She leaped out of sight immediately as one fired at her.

The first one, under the tree, flew out attacking the other wildly. Yumi heard an explosion and risked a glance outside—and stared straight into the face of a Hornet stationed there! She stumbled back, scrabbling for any weapon, but the robot didn't take advantage of her fear and confusion. Instead, it hovered there, buzzing.

_I don't believe it! You can't even understand me. How am I supposed to communicate here?_ Janika grumped.

It wasn't making any menacing moves, so the girl decided to try speaking to it. "Are you going to hurt me?"

_Of course not! What do you take me for? Oh yeah, a Hornet._

Yumi took the Hornet's slight back-and-forth motion to be a 'no'. "Why did you protect me?"

_Oh, like I can really answer that one! Forget this. The other four robots are probably at Kadic by now and I'm busy trying to explain something to you with 'yes' and 'no' answers? See ya, Yumi._

It made more indecipherable buzzing before shooting off into the air. The Japanese girl looked down and realized the two battling Hornets had drawn the attention of her neighbors. Sirens blared in the distance, coming closer. Someone must have called them.

"Sweetheart!" her father cried as he arrived and rushed to his wife's side.

She would be fine once the paramedics showed up. Yumi rushed past her family down the stairs and out the back door, pulling out her phone as she ran. X.A.N.A. was on the offensive and she hadn't been warned, so either the others hadn't gotten around to it or were completely unaware.

Jeremy's phone rang once before he picked up. "What is it, Yumi?"

She slammed through the back gate and darted down the alley. "Where should I start? A couple of Hornets just showed up at my house and my mom was shot. One of them was acting strange. It—"

"You mean X.A.N.A.'s attacking?" the computer genius interrupted.

"What do you think it _sounds_ like?"

"I'll talk to the guys, you call Aelita. I don't think she's quite ready to forgive me for my comment last night."

"Whatever! I'm sure he sent more than two. I'll try to meet up with you guys at Kadic in a little while. Be careful, Jeremy. These creatures are more agile than the Krabs or Roachsters."

"Will do. Thanks for the heads up. I hope Janika hasn't gotten into any trouble on Lyoko."

Yumi couldn't help laughing at that. "Are you kidding me? That girl is a magnet for trouble of one sort or another! But I'm sure she wouldn't try anything without contacting us."

**Yeah, we all know better than to believe that. Now, if you were offered the following for Easter, which would you take: a rabid Easter bunny, rotten Easter eggs, or a package of gummie worms that turn out to be the real ones? (my choice would be the rabid rabbit b/c then I could tie him up in the yard to keep Jehovah Witnesses away)**


	6. Fire Maiden

**11-6: Fire-Maiden**

**I kinda made a mistake in the previous chapter: according to my research on Wikipedia, Hornets can't shoot quickly. They fire, fly around for a few seconds, then fire again, but they travel in large groups so it _seems_ like they fire rapidly. I rewrote pieces of the little battle scene in the other chappie to work according to that rule. Thank you for listening.**

(((-6-)))

"Aunt Tila, it's me, Sissy."

"Hello dear! How's school?" the woman sounded delighted to hear from her niece.

"Oh, you know how it is. But that stuff's not very important. I was actually calling to speak to Janika. Is she around?"

There was a deafening silence on the other end for at least fifteen seconds, which made Sissy's jitters blossom into butterflies. "Is this some kind of joke? Janika called home last night from Kadic."

"I haven't seen her since Tuesday when she went back home to be with you since you got pregnant. I saw her get on the bus!"

"_Jira _visited and came back alone when we decided to let Janika continue schooling there. She said her sister was away on a special field trip and—Sissy, _where is she?_"

The butterflies in her stomach had grown into bats. "I don't know! I don't know!" she began to cry. "I'm sorry, I don't know anything!" The girl hung up before her aunt could reply.

Who else could possibly help her? No one! She couldn't hide the Flame for much longer either. It was coming to her more frequently now, as if it had a new source of power and needed to use its energy faster. What could she possibly do?

(V)

Odd inhaled his breakfast and made a beeline for the line to get fourths when his phone began ringing the song "What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor?" which would only mean Jeremy was trying to call him.

"You've got to be kidding me! Oh well, I guess I can show him my awesome ability to eat and talk on the phone at the same time." He took a bite out of a roll and flipped on the cell. "Mm-hmm?"

"Odd! Listen up—" And he described what Yumi had told him. "We've got to get to Lyoko and protect Janika. Who _knows_ what could be happening."

"If I know anything, she's probably battling X.A.N.A.'s critters already." Of course, it sounded more along the lines of: "Ith Ah noo enafin, sez pwoffy bathwin zanz kittas ardy."

Jeremy didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Uh…okay. You do that. Just try to meet us by the sewer entrance. Yumi said she'd be here soon."

"But I'm still eating!" a.k.a. "Vuh Ah'm shil eethin!"

"Whatever! Just meet us there."

"Aww man!"

(V)

Ulrich came out of the showers just as Jeremy hung up on Odd. "Something wrong, Einstein?"

"Ulrich!" the blonde kid spun around. "Yumi's been attacked by Hornets and they should be heading here too. We've got to get to the factory and shut down that Tower ASAP!"

"How long ago did she speak to you? It's not that far to the factory by air. Wouldn't they be here by now if Yumi already got atta—"

"Duck!" Jeremy tackled his friend and they crashed to the floor just as the window at the end of the hall shattered beneath a barrage of red lasers from three Hornets. The attack missed the two kids by half a meter.

Through the broken window, Ulrich spotted the robots flying crazily about. One fired again as he was trying to open his door and escape inside. The shot grazed his shoulder as he tried to dodge and behind him there was a yell as a boy coming out of the showers walked into the hallway. He wasn't hit, but definitely surprised to see a laser skim merrily past his face.

Jeremy followed Ulrich into the cover of the room and breathed a sigh of relief that didn't last long as the window there was smashed to pieces as well.

"Any better ideas for a hiding place?" he called as they took cover between the bed and dresser.

Ulrich shot him a look that could kill. "Why don't we go get Aelita? I'm sure she'd like to know about this."

"I already told Yumi to call her. She knows about it by now."

"Aelita doesn't have her phone, Jer. She told me last night she accidentally left it by that cot you guys set up in the factory."

"You mean she's incommunicado?"

"Yeah, if that means we can't talk to her."

"It does."

"Then _yes!_ Now what are we gonna do?"

Jeremy thought for a moment and finally decided to dash through the hall and into the stairwell as quickly as they could. There were no windows along that path, so it would be impossible for X.A.N.A.'s monsters to follow.

"Ready to run?" he asked his buddy.

"Now or never," Ulrich said grimly.

(V)

As Janika swooped down on the campus, she realized the Hornets had barely arrived before her. Maybe X.A.N.A. hadn't given them directions. She saw the narrow beams of their lasers as they hovered around the top floors of the dorms. Apparently they'd found at least one member of the gang.

One of them spotted her and abruptly fired. It appeared that her 'betrayal' was no longer a secret. One broke off to come after her, and Janika flew as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

About that time, Jeremie and Ulrich made it to Aelita's room and warned her while Yumi was still a seven minutes' run from the school where Odd was waiting by the sewer. One Hornet was chasing Janika wildly at the same time that the other two were buzzing around the dorms waiting for one of their victims to exit so that they could divebomb them. It just happened to be Sissy.

She came out of the building almost weakly, leaning against the wall with her face flushed. The screaming and pointing kids, who had by this time noticed the deadly robot visitors, were fleeing for any cover they could find. All but her, of course. She couldn't seem to make sense of the strange nonsense they were yelling about.

Instead of firing, the pair of mechanical monsters came zooming down on her, each as large as the teenager, and so it came as no surprise to any of the kids who happened to catch the scene that Sissy shrieked with a voice that probably cracked every window on campus. It _was_ a surprise, however, when one of the Hornets suddenly blew up in a scorching ball of red flames. The second barely escaped death by flying quickly out of range.

Aelita, Jeremy, and Ulrich had been watching their enemies from a first-story window (which was one of the first to be cracked by Sissy's super-sonic scream), but couldn't believe their eyes when she raised her hands to defend herself and wound up destroying her attacker! They eyed one another, not sure whether or not they had all seen the same exact thing.

"I think we know who the 'fire-maiden' is now," Ulrich asserted.

The other two gave each other relieved smiles. Aelita spoke first. "I guess that means we won't be giving me up to X.A.N.A., hmm?"

"Wait! Jeremy, we can't let him have Sissy either!"

"Don't worry, Ulrich," he assured his friend. "I was working on a way to help Janika last night that involved Sissy getting into one of the scanners and couldn't come up with a good way to get her to the factory. If we can get her into a scanner safely, there will be no problem fixing them both."

Aelita nodded with understanding. "We just have to keep X.A.N.A. from interfering."

"Well, are we going to keep her from getting barbequed or what?"

"Probably a good idea. Come on."

They rushed outside and saw Sissy staring at her hands in bewilderment. She started when she saw them, but held her ground, standing up straight and raising her chin haughtily. "So you know I'm a freak now, do you? Fine! Tell everyone and have your laugh. I don't care anymore!"

She began to run but Ulrich caught her by the shirt. "Sissy, we know what's going on with you! Jeremy can help fix it."

Her eyes grew wide. "_What did you guys do to me? I'm a fire-spitting mutant!_"

They surveyed her form surrounded by an unburning flame and stepped back, reminded unexpectedly of Janika caught in the backlash of her Bloodlust. It was clear the two girls were related.

Before they could begin to assure her of their sincere goodwill towards her, a Hornet came rocketing straight at her from behind. There was only enough time to widen their eyes before the robot opened fire. The single shot past Sissy and struck Aelita in the chest!

She let out a cry of pain as she was thrown back and the Flame left the principal's daughter, staring in shock at the bloody wound before her eyes. Jeremy knelt beside his girlfriend and Ulrich poised himself to protect them from the hovering monster, a grim expression on his face.

(V)

Janika had managed to lose her tag-along by going under a bridge and hiding in a crevice difficult to find unless you knew where it was. When X.A.N.A.'s pet had continued past and begun searching elsewhere, confused beyond words, she slipped out and returned to Kadic by the shortest path.

As she approached, there came the sound of laser-fire near the dorms. From above she could see the charred remains of a Hornet and another lingering almost smugly just over her friends who were helpless on the ground. She could see that Aelita had been hit.

At first she aimed her stinger-like tail at the creature, but realized that if she missed she'd hit her friends, and if she switched positions the enemy would realize she wasn't on its side. She had to make a decision _now!_

Not quite sure what she was doing, Janika dove toward the Hornet. She saw Ulrich's eyes become fearful as two foes appeared, but ignored him. This was her one chance!

"_Eat dirt, you overgrown gnat!"_ she buzzed.

It heard her and began to whirl around but too late! She slammed into it going 50 kilometers an hour **(A/N: we must use the _correct_ measurements overseas)** and they both crashed to the ground, its fragile wings crushed beyond repair as well as being completely stunned beneath her assault.

Hopefully the impact hadn't injured hers too in case the gang wasn't in a particularly forgiving mood toward Hornets right then. As she tried to move, she found Ulrich atop her, keeping her grounded. Odd came running from the woods, a large sharp branch in his hand. "Which one should I poke?" he wondered, twirling his weapon easily.

"Both!" Jeremy snapped venomously. "They tried to kill Aelita!"

"_No! I'm not one of them!"_ Janika tried to cry, but all the others heard was a frantic buzzing whine.

**Oh dear, I knew this was going to happen! The guy she likes the most is about to kill her and he doesn't even know it! Anyway, I'm just curious about my audience and I would like to know what your favorite book(s) is. Give me a short plot to go along w/ it too so that I can decide whether I should read it or not.  
(You guys are so kind to let me answer my own poll! I'd say Ella Enchanted: about a girl under a curse to obey any order given to her. She has a stepmother and 2 stepsisters (sound familiar?) who use it against her while she falls in love w/ a prince. Do _NOT_ waste your time on that movie they made. It's an insult to the book!)**


	7. Enemy or Friend?

**11-7: Enemy or Friend?**

**Man! This story is just getting weirder and weirder! I thought it would be a straight shot to victory, but my characters don't want an easy time. Idiots. This one jumps around a lot between scenes, so don't get upset.**

(((-7-)))

Janika saw Odd raise the stick to jab her in the X.A.N.A.-symbol on her head. If she'd been able to close her eyes she would have, but Hornets didn't have eyelids. She would be forced to watch him murder her!

"Stop! Odd, don't touch it!" came a voice from across campus.

They all stopped as Yumi sprinted toward the gang and their prisoners, panting heavily. She pointed at Ulrich, motioning for him to get off the Hornet as she labored to get her breath back. He hesitated for a moment, but trusted his girlfriend's instincts and released the monster.

Janika didn't make any sudden moves. She kept still in case they were still a bit jumpy.

"I saw everything from the street! That one attacked the other. It's the same one that saved me, I'm sure. We can't kill it."

Unfortunately Jeremy was less inclined to listen to reason. "Get rid of them! It's probably just one of X.A.N.A.'s tricks so that we let down our guard."

"No, she's right." To everyone's surprise it was Sissy who spoke. "I looked up in time to see those two big bugs staring down at us. One flew over and smashed into the one that hurt Aelita. I'm pretty sure this is the good guy. See? He's not trying to hurt us."

Jeremy and the others grudgingly admitted she was right. Yumi and Odd seemed a bit confused that no one was making up sappy excuses to get her to leave them alone. Ulrich cleared up their puzzlement by saying, "Let's just get the 'Fire-Maiden' to the factory so we can fix Janika. C'mon Sissy."

The Hornet suddenly buzzed, jabbing its mouth toward them. The frantic noise made them all step back wondering if it would attack, but abruptly Odd caught on. He spun about to face the second Hornet that they had dismissed. It curled its stinger around to point at Aelita again, but before it could fire he threw the broken branch at its weak spot. An instant explosion threw the teenager back, but he wasn't injured too badly. He stared at the robot that had warned them, almost as though trying to figure out something.

By this time many of the schoolkids had begun coming out to discover what had happened, Millie and Tamiya among them. The gang groaned together and Jeremy voiced their thoughts. "We'll _never _be able to get away if we get dragged down by a bunch of spectators!"

"What are we going to do about this thing?" Ulrich wondered. He was getting a tad nervous because Odd was kneeling right in front of it now. If it wanted to kill him, he would be dead in less than a second. "Get away from it!"

The short boy looked up at him. "What's wrong? Does this _bug_ you? Heh heh!"

The others glared at him. "Not funny, Odd."

"But we can't just leave it here alone or kill it! It saved our lives! Remember Horthe? She turned good even though she nearly suffocated Aeli—how are you, Princess?"

"I'll live," the pink-haired girl murmured in her soft cadence as she sat up. Jeremy was at her side in less than a second. "No, I'm fine, really. But we have to get to Lyoko. I'd rather not get interviewed right now."

She motioned to the dozen or so curious students heading toward them. They all cringed and helped her up, Yumi tying a quick bandage around her middle to keep the wound there from bleeding too much. Sissy followed them dutifully as they quickly made their way to the park.

Odd started after his friends and then returned to the Hornet. "I don't know why you decided to saved Aelita and the rest of us, but thanks. Too bad you'll go back to Lyoko when we return to the past."

He looked back just in time to see the poor thing get swarmed by students.

They gave Sissy the minimum amount of information they could to get her to come along. She kept asking questions that were too complicated to answer without having attended a seminar on the time-space continuum.

They exited the sewers and began running across the bridge together when Yumi gave a cry and ducked. The others followed her example, though it was hard for Jeremy and Ulrich who were supporting a wounded Aelita, but they fell down just in time.

A lone Hornet zoomed over their heads, firing once, then turned back and dove down with the intent to drive them over the side of the bridge! Amazingly Sissy stood straight and tall, eyes flaming with a courage no one (not even herself) knew she had. The robot banked right as though afraid to hurt her and she leaped, latching onto its tail while flames spread all over her body once again.

The sudden weight made a big difference and they dropped right off the side of the bridge! Sissy's fire widened to include the robot and it crazily tried to shake her loose, but it was too late. They landed in the water below with a splash at the same moment that it exploded. Sissy didn't seem harmed by the flying fragments of debris so much as the water. She started screaming and hopping through the waist-deep water toward the factory. The others rushed ahead and pulled her out.

She sputtered and coughed, muttering something about "Good help indeed!" then ran into the factory without bothering to explain anything along the way despite her questions. They piled into the elevator (a tight squeeze) and went down a level.

"Stay with the others, Sissy," Jeremy told their guest as he stepped out. He went over to the computer and immediately began trying to locate the Tower. He heard the others on his headphones reassuring Sissy downstairs.

"The activated Tower is in the Forest Region and—oh my gosh! There are at least twenty different monsters running around there!"

"Then transfer us already so we can get to work, Einstein! We can't kill 'em if we aren't on Lyoko," Odd chastised. "What's Janika doing, anyway?"

The computer genius checked the Tower in the Polar Region where they'd left her, but it was vacant. He started scanning all the Regions, but her virtual character wasn't showing up!

"She's not there," he said quietly. "There's no trace of her anywhere."

The silence in the scanner room was almost deafening. Only Sissy's questioning voice broke the mood. "What the heck is going on?"

"Janika's _dead_, that's what!" Ulrich lashed out. "X.A.N.A. decided to kill her when he realized we wouldn't give you to him."

Aelita's calm voice spoke to them all gently while Jeremy continued working. A minute later he transferred them to Lyoko and they were staring at the parade of mechanical monsters scouring the Forest. He inspected the Tower more closely and rubbed his eyes to figure out if he was seeing things. Several of the Towers around it were slightly active even though they hadn't been activated.

"Something really weird is going on down there, guys. It looks like X.A.N.A. _isn't_ controlling the Tower. Somehow it's like the thing is…controlling itself! It's draining energy from all the surrounding Towers in the Forest."

"Ok…" Yumi paused. "So who's our enemy?"

(V)

Students were everywhere, all trying to stroke her wings or at least lay a hand on her. Gee whiz! Had she ever been this curious? It was really beginning to bother her, especially since the _gang_ had abandoned her to this! With a shake, she began trying to flap all five pairs of wings together for the third time since she'd been stuck there. This time she managed to slip out of their grip and the children tried to seize her again.

_Yack! Let go of my tail!_ she yelled futilely at Millie. The girl was attempting to get a good picture with the big buggy, but Janika was, by this time, too unsettled and upset to try being nice, especially when they'd be going back in time anyway. Hopefully.

Ah, _this_ was freedom! She tried to tally up her victims so she could rub all their faces in it later. One at the factory, then at Yumi's, and she'd attacked the one at school (even though Odd technically killed it, but she'd let him have the credit just this once), plus Sissy had gone to work on that other one.

That meant there were still two Hornets running—er—flying around!

(V)

Jeremy stared at the monitor in disbelief. X.A.N.A.'s robots weren't attacking! What was he playing at? A new box appeared on his screen. He opened it and realized that their enemy had sent another message. Still suspicious, he began to decode the lines. It was easier now because he'd worked on it before, so that most of it was legible in less than two minutes.

"Your Warrior has escaped to Earth. Her presence in my Tower changed the activation and I am not in control. I will not harm your Warriors. I will protect them if I can. The _glitch _wants the Fire-Maiden more than I do, and your other Warrior is the key."

The blonde went slack-jawed. "Not on Lyoko? Then why didn't she let us know about the activated Tower or help fight the Horne—uh oh…"

(V)

The monsters were all around them, but none seemed to be quite interested in the group of Warriors. Ulrich poised, ready to attack in case this was some kind of ruse. The others had taken up defensive positions as well, but there were so many robots that if the teenagers attracted their attention, it was certain to lead to instantaneous devirtualization.

They stood still instead, with Aelita between them. A Roachster approached, its tiny cannon inactive. It merely stared at them and then scuttled away, waiting some meters off.

"Jeremy, there's a critter that looks like it's trying to get us to follow. Should we trust it?"

"I just got a message from X.A.N.A.. He said he's not the one controlling the Tower; something else is, and he doesn't like it. He won't have his minions attack if you guys leave them alone. Oh, and Janika isn't dead. I'm pretty sure she's the really helpful Hornet that saved our lives."

"_What?_" the rest of the gang cried out in chorus. "How?"

"According to our enemy, she did something to the activated Tower and now some kind of glitch has taken it over."

"Glitch?" Aelita repeated. "That's a program gone wild, kind of like cancer. I haven't seen one of those since you guys found me. And they certainly didn't command Towers."

"Well this one has. It wants both Sissy and Janika."

Yumi shook her head. "Where is Janika right now, anyway?"

(V)

Jeremy sat in his chair considering where the dark-haired girl would go if she had the body of a Hornet. How could they have missed it before? She had seemed so…maybe human wasn't the word, but definitely sympathetic. At least it explained why she'd defended them. If Yumi hadn't come along when she had, Janika would have been dead…

On one of the cameras around the factory, he noticed a lone monster flying around. It was corkscrewing in spirals and doing very un-Hornetlike things. It _had_ to be their long lost friend! He used the mike for the lower room and spoke slowly to the girl waiting there.

"Sissy, I need you to get _back_ into the elevator and go _up_ to the top floor. The _good bug_ is there and you need to bring her back _down_ to the place you're in now. Think you can do that?"

The silence in the scanner room was almost sarcastic. "I don't know. I'm not sure if I can figure out which way is up or down."

Make that _definitely_ sarcastic. Good thing she wouldn't remember anything once they went back in time.

(V)

Sissy stepped into the lift and rolled her eyes. Did they really think she was that dense? All Jeremy had to say was, "There's one of those Hornets upstairs. Could you go get it?" accented with a few pleases and maybe a hint of groveling since she'd saved their scrawny little necks from that one on the bridge. Without her they wouldn't have even made it here!

It was amazing that once she had been attacked by that Hornet at Kadic, all of a sudden the Flame obeyed her! It was like this was what it had come to her for: to destroy these buglike robots.

She pressed the button and felt slightly heavier as she rose to the top level. A little more than halfway there the lift came to a jerky halt. It tried to keep moving, but the rope seemed to have knots or something in it that prevented it from going any higher, so it sat there, stalled. Belatedly, Sissy realized she should have gotten Jeremy's number so that she could call and demand that he help her out.

A strange hissing noise distracted her from the irate thoughts clouding her mind. Something gooey dripped down from the ceiling onto her arm. She yelped and brushed it off. There was a small red mark on her skin that stung, and as she raised her eyes to see where it had come from Sissy couldn't keep from gasping. The ceiling above her was _writhing!_

A hole appeared in the very center and widened out, the liquid eating away the top of the elevator. The only thing she could think of that would affect metal like that was some sort of hydrochloric acid (hey, she might be dumb, but not even Sissy could avoid absorbing information occasionally).

More acid was falling, blistering her skin. The girl became frightened and reached out to embrace the Flame at once. It came willingly at her call, and began to burn everything around her. The elevator turned red-hot in seconds and exploded like a bomb!

Sissy found herself propelled upward and caught hold of the first thing she could when she came out into open air. She gripped the framework that had always lowered the lift and felt it melting in her hands. Slipping to the cement floor beyond it, she suddenly felt as though someone had rammed a dagger-like icicle through her leg!

The Flame diminished to nothing and she stared helplessly at the last materialized Hornet hovering over her victoriously.

**Guess how she's gonna deal w/ it. Okay, I'm just venting here b/c this really happened to me, but what if you had your heart set on a camping trip w/ a bunch of friends, only your ex was one of them (this person has _not_ been able to get over you even though you've moved on). You help plan the trip w/ everyone else anyway for a few hours. When you get back home to pack up, suddenly the group calls to inform you that b/c of your broken relationship w/ the ex, you have been unceremoniously kicked out, and besides, there wasn't enough room for you anyway.  
What would you do? (I slammed the phone down after yelling at them and cried. I'm over it now. I just hope they can't air up their tires ever again)**


	8. Final Code

**11-8: Final Code**

**At last my series is done! This is the final chapter of the final saga in my collection and I hope you've enjoyed them more than I have, b/c frankly, some of them were a pain to write! Especially when the Writer's Block attacked. But I made it through and you guys stuck w/ me. Thanks for all the support and hope you liked the polls. This one is dedicated to everyone!**

(((-8-)))

Jeremy jerked back as the cameras up on the factory floor went fuzzy, one by one. He inspected the last working one and saw Janika aim her stinger at it and then it too went haywire.

Why had she done that? What in the world had possessed her to destroy the only means he had of keeping an eye on the—oh darn…

(V)

Sissy shrank back from the Hornet, but there was nothing she could do. Pure exhaustion overcame her, making her fall to the floor, and the flying robot aimed its stinger at her head. Before the Hornet could fire, a laser shot skimmed past it and another Hornet appeared on the scene!

Janika swooped down yodeling a battlecry and firing as fast as she could. _Hey dingbat, get away from my cousin!_

Unfortunately X.A.N.A.'s robot was agile and dodged the lasers almost easily. It had better aim, however, and its first retaliation clipped one of Janika's wings, maiming the limb. She spun out of control for a moment and landed awkwardly behind some empty boxes nearby.

Despite her injury, she managed to regain her flight and hid behind a column. Her enemy refused to sit still long enough for her to get a fix on it, though, and it was driving her bonkers. _Jerk! Stop moving around so I can hit you!_

_Letting myself be destroyed would defeat the purpose of my mission, _it responded calmly.

The girl-turned-Hornet was so surprised that she nearly got hit. _You can talk? _Okay, maybe that was a dumb question, but it was rhetorical. Say something smart for once, dummy! _Why don't you leave Sissy alone? Your buddy back at Kadic was going to great pains not to kill her._

Th_e Master has discovered a solution to his problem and the Fire-Maiden has become a liability. She is no longer useful as a drone and impossible to use as a Pawn._ The Hornet took a cheap shot at the area over Janika's head and she barely dodged the falling debris.

She saw her chance and took it, coming up and smashing into the Hornet. It squirmed as she pressed it up against a column, wings shredding beyond use. Finally she heard a snap and flew backward. Her enemy fell to the cement, unable to fly or use its laser-tail.

_You're done for. You couldn't have won anyway. In a few minutes Aelita will deactivate the Tower and you'll be history, bub!_

_Do you truly think the Master is that foolish? The Keyholder will destroy the virus and then he will spring the trap. But at least I can still rid him of the Fire-Maiden._

Suddenly she remembered the Hornet's other weapon! It spat a green glob directly at Sissy, who was only a few meters away.

Janika propelled herself forward to protect her cousin and felt the acid connect with her body. The sticky stuff plastered itself to her and bubbled as it spread. It was a feeling unlike anything she'd experienced before, as if her skin was more like armor, but once the green goo got beneath it, she couldn't help writhing in pain. Her inner workings were more sensitive than skin could _ever_ be!

Even so, she aimed for the bug and fired a single shot straight for the bull's eye. There was almost a flicker of surprise in its appearance just before it exploded.

But the acid was still eating away at her. She couldn't believe this was how it all ended…lying on a cement floor being consumed in a body that wasn't even her own.

Just when the ooze was reaching her eye-sensors, a cloud of frozen steam covered Janika. She jerked in response, but the acid stopped spreading and solidified! After a few moments the metallic pain ceased as her body regained a sort of balance. Jeremy stepped through the white haze and she recognized a fire extinguisher in his hands.

"Thank goodness you're safe, Janika. I barely got here in time. Oh, and sorry about the mix-up, Sissy. One Hornet looks exactly like another to me."

The principal's daughter put a hand to her head as she sat up. "Look, even I know to show gratitude when someone rescues me. Let's kill it quickly."

Even though he couldn't understand her, she couldn't help screaming, _The Tower is booby trapped! You've got to stop Aelita from destroying that Glitch!_

All he heard was buzzing. "Relax, everything's under control. Too bad the elevator's toast and you can't fly. I doubt I'd be able to carry you downstairs either. Sissy, you'll have to go down to the scanner room and I'll lower her with a rope into the shaft. You two can wait there together."

"_What?_" Sissy gaped at him.

"Do it or I'm going to hurt you. Don't think I won't."

(V)

X.A.N.A.'s robots guided the gang along the Forest paths straight toward the spire. It was wreathed in the strangest aura they had ever seen: deep purple. Whatever the Glitch was, at least it had good taste in color.

The Tower stood guarded by two dozen creatures, all of which were surrounded by a hazy aura of purple light. Three enemy Megatanks began rolling forward, not opening to release beams. The Krabs opened fire but their lasers merely bounced off the tough shells. As the only two Tanks protecting the gang opened to greet the attackers, several Hornets came zooming down from above to fire a barrage of lasers and prevent them from using their red beams of destructive energy.

Six of X.A.N.A.'s Hornets came out of nowhere to assail them, but too late. The purple Tanks reached the group and two barreled into their counterparts, carrying them over the edge of the platform and into the Digital Sea. The last crashed into a feisty pair of Blocks.

More monsters wreathed in shifting shades of purple advanced, firing their weapons with precision. Odd leaped in front of Aelita and aimed for a Block. It saw him and stopped dead in its tracks. He fired and the creature didn't even try to dodge. A trio of Roachsters caught sight of him too and halted, ceasing their laser-fire to stare.

The panther-Warrior paused, completely taken aback. They didn't seem to want to fight.

"Don't freeze up on us, Odd!"

Before he could stop her, Yumi threw her fan toward the Roachsters. They didn't move a centimeter, practically _letting_ her cut them down. He glared at her with ire. "What did you do _that_ for? They weren't attacking!"

The geisha gave him a condescending look as she caught her weapon. "Sorry about that. I was going to let you get closer so they could mow you down, but I thought you'd take it personally. What's wrong with you? They're _monsters_."

She drew her other fan and sent them toward a Block and Krab coming forward. All the robots on the front line broke off their attack at the appearance of the spinning discs. Both creatures she'd aimed at fell in fiery explosions, even destroying some of their buddies who happened to be too close.

Ulrich left his post guarding Aelita and approached his friends. "What's wrong with them? What did you do, Yumi?"

"Nothing! I didn't dance or do anything that might have made them act this weird, I swear!"

The samurai surveyed the now-peaceful army. "Well don't kill any more. I wonder what confused them."

Unfortunately X.A.N.A.'s minions had other orders and paid no attention to him. They fired on the steady lines of silent robots until there were none left. Even the Hornets had been dispatched.

One of the Krabs nudged Aelita and she nervously started toward the Tower. The gang kept a close eye on the remaining enemies now that their common threat had been abolished.

The brown-haired leader motioned her forward. "Get in there and fix that thing so we can help Janika and make Sissy forget all this. If she remembers anything, we'll _never_ be able to escape from her ever again. For the good of the world, please do this."

"No pressure!" Odd called helpfully.

(V)

The A.I. found herself inside a warped Tower. Instead of the inner walls glowing blue, everything had that strange purple aura about it. She floated up to the second level and opened the control panel, but the information running across the grid appeared to be from Sector 5!

Aelita shook her head and began searching for the source of the Glitch but unexpectedly heard an urgent whisper echo almost like wind past her ear. Trying to ignore it, she nearly missed the message among the data (the information was all scrambled as though something was trying to escape detection…).

**Aelita. PT2U85T.**

That code…

"Jeremy," she started, "something is very strange about this Glitch. It's not ordinary. I think it may be trying to talk with me. Do you think I should attempt contact?"

The computer's operator responded the way she had expected him to: not very encouraging. "I'm not sure. What if it infects you or something? It might not be wise to take that chance." Typical.

Aelita stared at the console in confusion. There was something about this Glitch that just didn't feel like a virus. And that code… She didn't care what X.A.N.A. said. Why should they trust him? He'd proven nothing, especially by having his robots slaughtering creatures that had ceased attacking. Or had they been defending?

The monsters controlled by the purple aura had gone to great pains to avoid attacking the Warriors although it meant their destruction. There was something their "ally" was not telling them, and she was suspicious.

"Aelita, both Sissy and Janika are standing by. Let me know when you've fixed the Glitch so we can get on with repairing them, okay?"

Her hand hovered over the panel, ready to destroy the thing that had occupied the Tower, but instead she blocked Jeremy so that he couldn't communicate to her or interfere. Taking a deep breath, she rerouted several circuits and supplied energy to the central matrix of the activated Tower. A ghost of electrical currents appeared in the center of the platform in front of her and she addressed it.

"I promise I won't hurt you. Just tell me how you came to exist."

The pale specter took shape slowly, until it resembled a vague humanoid figure. "A question like that isn't worth the time it takes to answer. How about asking how I am?"

"Janika?" The pink-haired girl shook her head. "This is _really_ getting weird!"

"I'm not _exactly_ Janika. Usually we're the same person, but she left me behind when she was materialized by X.A.N.A.. Not on purpose, of course, but things like this happen."

"But if you're not Janika, then who are you?"

"I'm the true Warrior beneath the veil. The others have them too, otherwise they would appear on Lyoko as they are in reality. I've been hacking into Sector 5 since I became aware of myself. I even stumbled across a code for controlling his underlings, as you could see."

"So you_ are_ the Glitch controlling the Towers! Why?"

"I almost had the file with my DNA but that stupid X.A.N.A. locked me out, and ever since I've been draining power from the Towers here trying to keep from losing my hold on it. I had to protect myself, and that's where my own set of minions came from." The now easily-identifiable cheetah-Warrior shrugged. "Then you guys showed up and I couldn't attack my friends."

The A.I. knew she was taking a huge risk. "What can I do?"

"What? You mean you've decided to trust me?" the dark-haired girl looked at her friend with mock-suspicion. "I'll show you where the files are, but I doubt you'll be able to do anything. I'm using power from eleven Towers right now."

"I'll take my chances."

Aelita held her palms up and closed her eyes while Janika's ghost surveyed her a moment before placing her own insubstantial hands on top. Instantly their minds were both transported to Sector 5 where the cheetah-Warrior was gripping the correct file with her fingernails, barely able to hold on.

_Can you help?_ she thought to Aelita.

_Don't worry. I know exactly what to do,_ she assured the other. At least she _hoped_ she knew.

(V)

Odd glanced nervously at his friends. "It's taking her a long time to deactivate the Tower, isn't it? What is she doing in there?"

Yumi looked at Ulrich. "Should we check on her? Maybe she needs our help. You don't think the Glitch-thingy got control over her, do you?"

Before he could answer, he saw one of the remaining Krabs turn toward them. He acted out of instinct, leaping into the air so fast that a blur of yellow was all anyone could see. The laser blasted into the Forest's landscape, revealing a patch of grids beneath the illusion before regaining its former appearance.

"X.A.N.A. tricked us!" Odd shouted as he attacked with his own weapons. Three Hornets zeroed in on him and before he could kill a single one, he was gone.

Yumi defended herself better, but not for long. A Megatank showed up and took her out from behind, though the samurai Warrior managed to avenge her devirtualization. But before he could regain his sword, a pair of Roachsters and a Krab pounced on him.

(V)

So complete was their surprise at the sudden ambush that all three of them materialized in the scanners in less than two minutes.

Ulrich opened his eyes when he realized someone was cradling his head and crooning. "Oh my sweet, dear, lovable Ulrich! What have they done to you?"

"Get away from him!" Yumi yelled.

She yanked the clingy girl away and was about to slap her across the face when Odd yelled, "Janika! What were you _thinking?_ We could have taken care of this problem without you getting in the way!"

The girl couldn't reply very well, but the noises she buzzed at him sounded rather defensive. The trio of friends were amazed that she was still alive. Only shreds of a couple wings remained and the rest of her was practically crushed or torn away. A strange, disgusting green coating crusted the rest of her and they knew it was acid. The damage that stuff caused in real life was shocking!

"Jeremy, Aelita's still in there. X.A.N.A. really did set a trap for us and we just waltzed right into it!" Yumi spoke up.

"I can't communicate with her, guys. Aelita blocked me when I told her to destroy the Glitch and deactivate the Tower." The blonde sounded like he was biting his lip. "What should we do?"

"Jer, if X.A.N.A. caught her then we're doomed. One of us could go to the bottom floor and shut down Lyoko if we really have to."

"No… She'll make it. I know she will…"

(V)

Aelita forced the file open, sending alarms running through the entire Sector. In their pure digital form robots wouldn't be able to harm them, but X.A.N.A. had more than those at his disposal.

The two thieves were instantly bombarded by what appeared to be cages and claws of black shadow to their "eyes". Janika's counterpart fought them with sparks and clashes of bright light while Aelita wrestled the data from the safeguarded file and kept X.A.N.A.'s mental attacks at bay.

Finally she freed it and called to her friend. _Got it! Janika, it's all here! Your DNA and Sissy's solution!_

_It's about time! These guys aren't the usual bogies. Let's get out of here and get me back together again. I'm starting to lose my hold on the Towers. They don't like all being activated like this._

_Agreed,_ she said shortly before joining her companion and whizzing along pathways invisible and inaccessible to her more solid form. And then suddenly she was standing in the Tower again and the image of the cheetah-Warrior was fading. Aelita realized she was losing what power she'd gathered earlier.

"Hold on just a bit longer! It won't take much time to fix this now that I have what I need. Jeremy!" she said, turning on the Tower's speaker. "I have everything. Get Sissy and Janika into the scanners right now!"

"What happened?"

"Do it and don't ask questions!"

Information flowed across the panel so fast that Aelita barely caught it. She had to get this done _now!_ In minutes her friend could be gone. Her hands flew from one option to another and she hoped that Jeremy had obeyed her.

The purple glow was fading from the inner walls and she panicked, entering everything and triggering the scanners with the two girls at the same moment that she deactivated the Tower. All the soft purple was replaced with blue so suddenly that Aelita shielded her eyes.

"Did it work?" she wondered, the initial silence after deactivation startling.

Jeremy seemed to be breathing a sigh of relief. "My monitor says it went smoothly. Perfect. It's time to rewrite history, Aelita."

She couldn't help smiling. "Go for it."

(V)

Janika stood at the bus stop beside Jiranda who was picking up her bags and checking to make sure she had her ticket. "Guess I'll see you after the semester's over," she said with a shrug.

"Give Mom my love, sis." She hugged her sister warmly.

"I will. She'll be happy to hear you're okay. Bye, Nika!"

Ignoring her twin's growl at the hated nickname, the more eccentric girl boarded the bus and waved animatedly from an open window until the vehicle turned a corner and vanished from sight. Janika turned to Odd as he began to speak.

"Well, how was that? Everything's back to normal and we can go about our usual business without fear of being discovered by any nosy popular girls who are related to you." He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Now about _us_…"

"Come on, Odd! I just got back this morning in time to see you hitting on my sister. You think I'm going to forget it this quick?"

"I explained myself! I thought she was _you!_ It's an honest mistake."

She glared heartlessly at his puppy-eyes. "You're not getting off the hook that easily. I want you to grovel in a snake pit before I even _consider_ forgiving you."

"How about a battle on Lyoko? That always cheers you up."

"Only if you let me win ten times in a row."

"Deal! Tonight?"

"I'll call you. I have to unpack all the boxes in my room and get that cinnamon apple-smell out of my sheets. Why Jira wears perfume to bed, I'll never know!"

"Oh…and Janika?" he started shuffling his feet slightly, as though nervous. "I really am sorry about the mistake Aelita made when she fixed you. Those things must be uncomfortable. I don't know how you can stand them."

She shrugged scratching her back. "I always knew Lyoko would leave its mark on me, but I just didn't know it would be so literal. See you later, okay?" She walked slowly to the Kadic dorms and climbed the stairs, ignoring the greetings of fellow classmates. Once in her room, she locked the door and rubbed her arms to smooth down her goosebumps.

Tentatively, she turned away from the mirror, craning her head over one shoulder, and pulled her jacket off. Aelita had helped her cut holes in her shirt so that the five pairs of gossamer wings there had a little freedom.

"I wonder if I can fly with them…" she whispered.

In response to her query, she tested them and nearly lifted off the floor. An impish smile crossed her face as she realized she hadn't given up the best experience of this whole adventure.

**As a rule I try not to introduce very impulsive things at the end of a story that may require a continuation, but I couldn't help it even if it is corny. ****And as for the Last Poll Ever: Which was your favorite episode that I ever wrote?**

I know I said This would be the last part, but I couldn't help myself. For anyone who's interested, check out Code: Janika and let me know what you think.

**Thank you, everyone!**


End file.
